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All the King's Men

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 25,682 ratings · 1,190 reviews

More than just a classic political novel, Warren’s tale of power and corruption in the Depression-era South is a sustained meditation on the unforeseen consequences of every human act, the vexing connectedness of all people and the possibility—it’s not much of one—of goodness in a sinful world. Willie Stark, Warren’s lightly disguised version of Huey Long, the onetime Loui...more

Paperback, 438 pages

Published September 1st 1996 by Harcourt Brace, 2nd Harvest edition (first published 1946)

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Jun 20, 2012 Jeffrey Keeten rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jeffrey by: On the Southern Literary Trail

"Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud."

Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren is the only person to win the Pulitzer prize for fiction as well as poetry. He won the prize for fiction in 1946 for this very book. If you are lucky enough to have a great aunt who reads, and bought a lot of books in the 1940s, you might take a gander at her books some time and see if she has a first edition, first printing of this book in...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites-contemporary, politics, psychological, memory, louisiana, great-depression, favorites, fathers-and-sons, religion, pulitzer-prize, time-100

“Is you is, or is you ain’t my constituency?”
(O Brother Where Art Thou? Coen Brothers’ film, 2000)

Do corrupt and greedy humans beget corrupt and greedy politicians? Do we get the leaders we deserve? Poet Robert Penn Warren received the Pulitzer Prize for his 1946 masterpiece about a corrupt governor of an unnamed Southern state (resembling Louisiana) during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, but Warren poses difficult questions about the nature of human corruption and the nature of evil that...more

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Oct 14, 2009 Weinz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Weinz by: Bernie

Shelves: favorites

I finished this book on a plane. I was on a plane coming home from somewhere that I didn't belong and as we coasted onto the tarmac I felt a little like Jack Burden. He was never really comfortable in the shoes that he wore but was constantly striving to find the truth in things. He was looking for the truth while consistently doing the right even when it was hardest. Not to say that I am this all knowing altruistic seeker of truth in all things, quite the opposite, but coming from somewhere I d...more

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May 01, 2008 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-novels

Compelling, overstuffed, overplotted, sexist, labyrinthine, poetic, atmospheric. To me this book's status as The Great American Political Novel seems like a terrific bitter joke, because the author's vision of "politics" is comprised entirely of blackmail, physical intimidation, pork-barreling, rabble-rousing, nepotism, bribery, rigged elections, and hilariously contrived "family values" photo shoots. (I love the scene where a photographer and two aides attempt to wrestle a comatose, foul-smelli...more Compelling, overstuffed, overplotted, sexist, labyrinthine, poetic, atmospheric. To me this book's status as The Great American Political Novel seems like a terrific bitter joke, because the author's vision of "politics" is comprised entirely of blackmail, physical intimidation, pork-barreling, rabble-rousing, nepotism, bribery, rigged elections, and hilariously contrived "family values" photo shoots. (I love the scene where a photographer and two aides attempt to wrestle a comatose, foul-smelling dog into position for a shot of the dog leaping up to greet its beloved master, the Governor!)

I would place this novel in the Philosophical Potboiler genre (together with "East of Eden" and "Sophie's Choice"). There are lengthy meditations on the Human Condition, the nature of History, the problem of Free Will, the Original Sin of slavery as a hereditary taint corrupting the southern upper class, etc... woven among scenes featuring such archetypes as the Angelic Woman (Anne Stanton), the Demonic Woman (Sadie Burke, and Cass Mastern's mistress), the Saintly Aesthete and Crypto-Homosexual (Adam Stanton), the Seductive Mother, the "Colonel Sanders" With a Secret (Judge Irwin), and What's Bred in the Bone Coming Out in the Flesh (Tom Stark, the embodiment of his father's egoism and brutality). In the ranks of minor characters we find the Long-Suffering Wife in the Country (Mrs. Stark), and Flannery O'Connor-style Mad Missionary (Jack's father). What an array!

There are a number of rather heavy-handed themes, of which I thought the most interesting was the contrast between Jack the self-identified "student of history" and product of History, and Willie the man without a history... no family, no formal education, no tradition, nothing to explain his ambition, charisma, ruthlessness, and power over others. There seems to be a trade-off between History and Act. Jack is Burdened by the past at every level -- his parents' broken marriage, his half-mad father, his unfinished dissertation, the end of the plantation class's reign in Southern politics, the guilt of slavery. He lives in a fog of depression, cynicism, sophistication, and rationalization. He is fascinated by Willie at their first meeting because Willie is his opposite: an earnest rube who seems unaware of his own dorkiness and believes the political game could and should be played fair.

But Willie isn't just a naif. He's also a kind of monster. Even at that early stage there's a monstrous ego and ambition germinating inside him... ambition not for political goals but for personal power and domination. Where does his ambition come from? What sets Willie apart from any other impoverished child of dirt farmers in any other wretched little town like Mason City? And which side is the true Willie Stark -- the idealist who fights on behalf of poor farmers and families, the builder of new roads and schools and hospitals, or the bully who fights for the sadistic joy of humiliating and dominating others?

These mysteries haunt the novel, and Penn Warren never offers a solution. Willie remains an enigma from start to finish. In fact I felt that Penn Warren wrote himself into a corner - he COULDN'T solve the enigma of Willie Stark's origins and essential nature, so he shifted focus to the more solvable mysteries in Jack Burden's past.

I don't think the Jack Burden plot has aged particularly well. It has the kind of heavy-handed Freudianism you see in 1950s movies... the seductive mother, the discovery of the True Father; the taboo of virginity; the sorting of women into angels and whores, spirits and bodies. Almost every character has at least one light or dark "double" (Willie/Jack, Willie/Adam, Jack/Adam, Sadie/Ann, Burden/Irwin, Lois/Ann, etc), which is very schematic. The happy ending is only achieved by the death/disappearance of everyone but Jack and Ann... they don't so much overcome or escape the Burden of history as have history conveniently relax its grip on them. (less)

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Feb 19, 2013 Jonfaith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jack Burden is one of my favorite characters. He hovers as a reflection of what could've been, yet his finality terrifies me. The scenes detailing Burden smoking in the dark and the winds arriving from the Canadian north are amazing. Warren eyes both Faulkner and Gibbon. His study of power echoes the Bard, though his poetic flourishes are native-born. He eyes his betters and replicates to placate Carson and Marsa Bill. All The Kings Men is regarded as the best example of the political novel. I'm...more

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Oct 05, 2008 Teresa rated it 5 of 5 stars

I first read this in Oct '06 and just re-read it for a discussion that was held in conjunction with this year's Louisiana Book Festival. It's amazing what one forgets in just 2 years, but what I didn't forget was Warren's lyrical way with words and structure, and the questioning, many times sardonic voice of his narrator, Jack Burden. It was a pleasure to read it again.

It took me so long to read this book in the first place because I thought it was going to be 'just' a fictionalized account of H...more

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Sep 02, 2007 Andrew added it

All the King’s Men is often promoted as a novel about politics, occasionally even the quintessential novel of American politics. While I did enjoy the portrait of Willie Stark as an archetype political boss, more interesting, to me, is the struggle of the narrator, Jack Burden, to overcome his nihilistic doubts in the face of a world governed by power. Jack claims to overcome his nihilism (“the Great Twitch”) by coming to an understanding of the morality of his own life (the personal and inter-p...more All the King’s Men is often promoted as a novel about politics, occasionally even the quintessential novel of American politics. While I did enjoy the portrait of Willie Stark as an archetype political boss, more interesting, to me, is the struggle of the narrator, Jack Burden, to overcome his nihilistic doubts in the face of a world governed by power. Jack claims to overcome his nihilism (“the Great Twitch”) by coming to an understanding of the morality of his own life (the personal and inter-personal) in relation to the ethical valuations of history (on the stage of the world).

So I read the larger narrative of the book in the light of Jack’s search for meaning, rather than seeing Jack as merely a narrator to the story of Willie Stark. From this perspective I think All the King’s Men tells a compelling story of Stark as a politician who, despite by all outward appearances of being driven merely by a quest for power, can in fact believe in the righteousness of his actions. He accomplishes this through an elaborate scheme of means-end reasoning and a vision of purpose that captivates or even short-circuits his own moral calculus. Willie Stark constructs a narrative of meaning through his campaign for a hospital that will serve all people, regardless of income, and is not mired in the exigencies of political reality that becomes for him a trump card in any consideration of the morality of his actions.

The ethically pious and occasionally self-righteous Doctor Adam Stanton serves as a foil to Stark, with their lives ultimately meeting in a tragic end as though destined by their inability to grasp the ethical possibilities of their world that the narrator, Jack Burden, eventually realizes. Adam’s attempt to live ethically through nonparticipation with evil and political power is sacrificed with the realization of his father’s ethical shortcomings; he then steps into the world of power by agreeing to oversee the construction of Willie Stark’s hospital (creating odd parallel between the two in that the hospital serves for both of them as the symbolic touchstone for an ethical life). Yet this critical step, away from a sanctified idealism into the practical world of compromise leads eventually to his tragic confrontation with Willie Stark. In the end, his defining action is not aimed at any practical end but is rather either an emotionally-driven strike against the objectification of his own (and his sister’s) moral compromise. The reader is left to ponder whether this outcome is this simply the natural result of his step away from a “kingdom of ends” in agreeing to join Stark’s hospital or a product of his inability to cope with the fallen nature of humanity.

That’s what I got out of it anyway. For a more critical view highlighting literary shortcomings and racial and gender issues, read “All the King’s Men—A Case of Misreading?” by Joyce Carol Oats in the New York Times Book Review.
(less)

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Feb 14, 2008 matt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fictions-of-the-big-it, america-f-k-yeah, social-crit, top-shelf, recommendations, favorites, modern-library-100

This book grabbed me by the collar and pulled me in when I picked it up at the bookstore and I couldn't breathe until I finished it.

This is exactly what American politics, in the essential or fundamental sense, are about. Innocense gets you into the game, experience gets you further, ruthlessness gets you ahead.

Its narrated with zest and sarcasm and this particular version is great because it throws in all of Warren's original extras- references, allusions, extra plot points, details, etc. More...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, 100, politics, classic-lit

At first glance, Willie Stark seems like he would have been the perfect Tea Party candidate. He uses fiery rhetoric to stir up crowds by claiming to be just like them and that he’s going to bust the heads of those evil ole politicians at the state house to force them the straighten up and do things the right way. But on the other hand, Willie actually knows something about government and uses his tactics to improve the lives of poor people by taxing the wealthy and using that money to do things...more At first glance, Willie Stark seems like he would have been the perfect Tea Party candidate. He uses fiery rhetoric to stir up crowds by claiming to be just like them and that he’s going to bust the heads of those evil ole politicians at the state house to force them the straighten up and do things the right way. But on the other hand, Willie actually knows something about government and uses his tactics to improve the lives of poor people by taxing the wealthy and using that money to do things like improve roads and provide free health care so maybe he wouldn’t fit in with Sarah Palin after all.

This classic novel tells the story of Willie Stark through the eyes of Jack Burden. Jack came from a privileged background but eventually turned his back on that life and became a cynical political newspaper reporter in an unnamed corrupt southern state. When Jack first meets Stark, he thinks of him as ’Cousin Willie from the country.’ because of his rube manner. Stark is a smart, hardworking and principled county commissioner, but he gets in over his head when he tries to award a government contract to the actual best bid and the corrupt politicians trash him for it.

Then Stark is tricked into running for governor by the state political machine to split the rural vote and make sure that the party favorite wins. Stark had been getting nowhere with his carefully planned speeches that patiently explained needed changes to the tax codes and other government business, but when he finds out he’s been played for a fool, Stark finds his voice as an angry hick who is tired of being abused by the politicians. Using his new populist tactics of playing up his upbringing as a poor farm boy who taught himself law at nights and promises to kick the collective ass of the political good-ole-boy network, Stark eventually does win the governorship, and Jack joins him as his political hatchet man.

Stark no longer cares about doing things the right way. He becomes a political force in the state through a combination of bullying, cajoling or bribing anyone who gets in his way. To Willie’s way of thinking, the state is full of sons-of-bitches that he either has to buy or break to get things done, and he is now fully convinced that the ends justify the means. He does actually follow through on his promises to try and help the common people of the state, but many consider him even more dangerous than the corrupt people he’s fighting.

Jack has no problems with the way that Willie runs thing until the governor gets angry at the incorruptible Judge Irwin for backing a rival in an election. When Willie can’t charm or bully the Judge into falling into line, he orders Jack to dig up some dirt on the man. However, Jack has known and admired the Judge since childhood so he has reservations about the assignment. Trying to find the Judge’s dirty laundry brings back Jack’s issues with his mother and father, and the girl he loved and lost, Anne Stanton. Things get even stickier when Willie decides that the only man to run his new pet project, a huge modern hospital, is Ann’s brother and Jack’s childhood friend, Adam.

I absolutely loved the way that Stark is portrayed in this book. It was inspired by Huey P. Long in Louisiana, a politician who accomplished a lot for the poor of his state but did so with highly questionable methods. Willie does indeed want to protect the common people from the ‘sons-of-bitches’ who have let the state wallow in poverty and neglect while lining their pockets, but this isn’t a simple case of power corrupting either. Willie always had a lot of ambitions for his political career, and he tried to play it straight at first because he thought that‘s how it was done. Once he saw the ugliness of reality behind the scenes, Willie seemingly adopts the same tactics without a second thought. Power didn’t change Willie, he changed to get and keep power, and he seems to relish his opportunities to take revenge on the types who screwed him over early in his career.

Warren’s prose is elegant and lyrical. He brings an entire region alive with a cast that includes everyone from the high society to the poorest farmers. His descriptions are so good that you can almost feel the humidity and hear the insects at times. However, he did tend to go on a bit long for my taste when relaying Jack’s personal history and insights. I would have liked more of Willie laying on the charm or ruthlessly taking down an opponent.

They say that watching government work is like watching sausage get made. Everyone wants the finished product, but no one wants to see how it‘s done. This story gives weight to this idea. It’s something that will make any reader think about whether one can get anything done in a democracy without deals being cut or threats being made. Even if the goal is accomplished, is the whole thing tainted because of how it came about? And how can a person with even the best of intentions work in a system like this without becoming corrupted? (less)

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Jan 26, 2008 Mister Jones rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Mister Jones by: My Southern Literature Teacher

For my money, I think this is the greatest book in Southern Literature exceeding Faulkner. All the King's Men is much more than the usual purported centrality of Willie Stark's political motives and final demise, and the usual shallow analogies to Huey Long; if anything, the novel's narrator, Jack Bundren, is a cynical person whose life has unraveled. I think the one scene with Jack's father will always stay vivid as the epitome of Southern Grotesque. It is a multi-layer novel--with clarity and...more

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Mar 20, 2009 Nate rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite novels - really, the book that helped me define what a novel even is. There's a real breadth to the action of this novel and characters that are real in ways I hadn't come across in a novel before. I found myself equally drawn to the quiet lyrical moments of this and the more declarative sections of action and character manipulation.

The overall plot - political intrigue in Louisiana politics - is so secondary to my enjoyment that I almost forget that is the setting. To...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Isadora Wagner rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, gothic, southern

There are some books I love, and others I respect or emulate and admire. All the King's Men managed to be all three; indeed, as I write this an hour or two after finishing, I am hard-pressed to describe either the book or my feelings for it, except to say that it is a big aching book, big as life itself, and that one ought to read it if only for the churning, impossible feeling it leaves you with after. Georg Lukacs, in his 1916 classic, The Theory of the Novel, wrote that great novelists finger...more There are some books I love, and others I respect or emulate and admire. All the King's Men managed to be all three; indeed, as I write this an hour or two after finishing, I am hard-pressed to describe either the book or my feelings for it, except to say that it is a big aching book, big as life itself, and that one ought to read it if only for the churning, impossible feeling it leaves you with after. Georg Lukacs, in his 1916 classic, The Theory of the Novel, wrote that great novelists finger the chasm of impossibility in life: they find the places where one part of existence rubs up against the other, and a chasm or gap opens up because they don't fit. These are the holes we fall into in life--the stuff of terror and truth, chasms of depth. Robert Penn Warren does just this with his exploration of the Time-Reponsiblity-Historical Greatness-Fate-Corruption question. A book both Greek and Shakespearean in proportions, ancient in its portrayal of tragedy, and yet every bit American, modern and fresh, it asks the big questions and--with the exception of one or two rather obvious plot conveniences that occur late in the book but which, in hindsight seem necessary if inelegant--takes neither shortcuts nor easy answers, but presses steadily and solidly at the faults of life itself. A must read. Also a beautiful read at the sentence level--from about the middle of the book on, I kept bookmarking passages and re-reading sentences (some as long as two pages; Warren is a master of the run-on), partly for the sheer breathtaking beauty and originality of how they were written, but also to learn (thus the emulation). From meditations on the incongruities of life to questions of fate, free will, and faith, to what, to this reader at least, read as extended riffs on the nature of the writing life and perspective of the writer, the book offers a dazzling array of ideas, questions, problems, possible solutions, and images. So this book is a thing of beauty and greatness--a massive accomplishment for anyone, but one perhaps made understandable by Warren's having also earned a Pulitzer in poetry (the only writer to do so ever).

This was hands down the best American novel I have read. I still may love "To Kill a Mockingbird" more, but ATKM has my deepest respect.(less)

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Jan 05, 2012 Mike Hart rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read this passage:

A woman only laughs that way a few times in her life. A woman only laughs that way when something has touched her way down in the very quick of her being and the happiness just wells out as natural as breath and the first jonquils and mountain brooks. When a woman laughs that way it always does something to you. It does not matter what kind of a face she has got either. You hear that laugh and feel that you have grasped a clean and beautiful truth. You feel that way because tha...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone

Recommended to Mike by: Freshman serendipity at a college bookstore

Shelves: 1930s, 2012, 20th-century, amorality, books-into-movies, death, fathers-and-sons, favorites, first-person-narrative, group-read, jealousy, loss-of-innocence, love, marriage, modern-library-s-100, mothers-and-sons, on-the-southern-literary-trail, pulitzer-prize-winner, rationalization, responsibility, sex, southern-class-and-culture, the-great-depression, time-100-best-english-language-nove, tragedy, populism, politics, louisiana, robert-penn-warren, corruption

All the King's Men: Robert Penn Warren's Spider Web

"It all began, as I have said, when the Boss, sitting in the black Cadillac which sped through the night, said to me (to Me who was what Jack Burden, the student of history, had grown up to be) "There is always something."
And I said, "Maybe not on the Judge."
And he said, "Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud. There is always something."

First Edition, Harcourt Brac...more

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Apr 01, 2009 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars

I try to hand out 5-star ratings to books that meet some minimum criteria. For one, it can’t be a 5-star in my rating system if offensive language is prolific. That is the reason I stepped this book down from a 5-star to s 4-star. I would just caution that the language used in many cases is raw with a lot of deity degradation.
I find myself wondering at times if I’m becoming desensitized. I realize that these characters are flawed and that they are probably not true representations of the real...more

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Jun 22, 2008 Brinda rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was unlike anything I have ever read before and I doubt I will read many of its caliber ever again. It is an epic, biblical, human yet quintessentially American saga, disguised in the bizarre circumstances surrounding a particular brand of local Southern politics. In Willie Stark, Penn Warren has created the ultimate American antihero -- describing to the tee the populist circus the campaign trail becomes, with Willie playing off the parasitic needs of potential voters and staffers and...more

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May 04, 2008 Coy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Coy by: Angela

I can understand why people call this a classic. It sort of reminds me of the Great Gatsby, one of my favorite novels. I can also hear the narration at the end. It's deep, nostalgic, matter of fact and meloncholy-- like saying goodbye. That reminds me of A River Runs Through It. After all is said and done, however, I can't say that All the Kings Men, to me, was as good as a River Runs Through It or Gatsby.

This I write much to the dismay of my girlfriend, who not only loves All the King's Men, b...more

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Mar 23, 2013 William rated it 5 of 5 stars

A meditation on the human condition disguised as a roman a clef centered on politics as practiced in America (politics of the hard-knuckled variety), Warren's novel will always be remembered for its poetry -- indeed, this is a book that may be best read aloud. Beneath all the poetic phrasings and Southern patois, however, lies a taut drama, an effective execution of the form of classical tragedy to give the ancient Greeks a run for their money. Warren reveals that he is a tragedian of the highes...more

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Mar 12, 2009 Joanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Michael Emerson fans!

Shelves: plain-ol-fiction

Whew, I finally made it! I thoroughly enjoyed this story, although I have to confess I don't think audiobooks are really my bag. I kept spacing out while listening, and had to replay the same passages over and over. Which I loved, because I can never get enough of Michael Emerson's voice and the impossibly cute way he has of saying words that begin with "wh," but it did drag a 12-hour audio into a five week experience.

I just loved the character of Jack Burden and his random tangents that, at th...more

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Feb 21, 2011 Dlee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I didn't really see this as Willie Stark's story. It was about Jack Burden (aptly named) and his travel from innocence to corruption. He learned it at Willie's knee but ultimately the story was his. I wish I had known before that the politic would take such a back seat. I would have picked this book up years ago and have read it 3 times by now. I loved the language, the description and the imagery that Warren invoked.

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Jul 22, 2007 Emma rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of my favorite books. In addition to writing novels, Robert Penn Warren was a poet laureate. When I was first introduced to this book I was told that it was a lyrical novel, which I assume means that its prose have rhythm and tempo. In addition to being a captivating story, the style of the book is constantly engaging. I love the description at the beginning of the novel when the characters are driving down a highway road in Mississippi at night. The author sets the tempo of the mome...more

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Apr 20, 2010 Joyce Lagow rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

Winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, All the King� s Men has been touted as the best book written on American politics because of the portrayal of Willie Stark, the politician whose life and career resemble that of Huey Long of Louisiana. But after reading the book, it seems to me that it is much more the story of the personal journey of Jack Burden, one-time reporter and long-time aide to Willie, told by Jack himself as he records the different stages of his personal pain as his relat...more Winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, All the King� s Men has been touted as the best book written on American politics because of the portrayal of Willie Stark, the politician whose life and career resemble that of Huey Long of Louisiana. But after reading the book, it seems to me that it is much more the story of the personal journey of Jack Burden, one-time reporter and long-time aide to Willie, told by Jack himself as he records the different stages of his personal pain as his relationship with Willie unfolds. There is no question that Willie� s career and evolution from populist to corrupt politician is a vital aspect of the book, but more as a subplot and background to what Jack experiences because of his involvement.[return][return]What gives power and poignancy to the story is Jack, his family, and his childhood companions: Judge Irwin, Adam and Ann Stanton, his father who abandons the family, and others. In particular, his relationship with Adam and Ann Stanton, which is almost an incestuous triangle, constitutes an insistent background, like a basso continuo, to the public, political events surrounding Willie Stark, elbowing its way into the foreground as the story progresses relentlessly to the powerful and what seems like unavoidable climax. It� s as if a Greek tragedy were taking place in the back country of Louisiana, with the � wooly hats� , the poor country folk on whom Willie built his political empire, serving as the chorus. Jack, as narrator, is able to evaluate Willie� s actions from the point of view of an insider, even though he himself is helpless to influence any of the events.[return][return]Warrren� s prose style reflects the fact that he was also a poet. The sentences can be dense and convoluted, making effective use of repetition to convey an image: [return][return]"Close to the road, a cow would stand knee-deep in the mist, with horns damp enough to have a pearly shine in the starlight, and would look at the black blur we were as we went whirling into the blazing corridor of light which we would never quite get into for it would be always splitting the dark just in front of us. The cow would stand there knee-deep in the mist and look at the black blur and the blaze and then, not turning is head, at the place where the black blur and blaze had been, with the remote, massive, unvindictive indifference of God-Almighty or Fate or me, if I were standing there knee-deep in mist, and the blur and the blaze whizzed past and withered on off between the fields and the patches of woods." [return][return]Prose poetry, and much of the book is written in this fashion. At times, however, it seems to me that Warren, perhaps in an attempt to establish local color, becomes a little � cute� in his writing, particularly in the early part of the book� s dialogue. The few times that he does so ring false; he doesn� t need cuteness to convey authenticity. However, this is a minor quibble, and Warren, after the story becomes more developed, never makes the mistake again.[return][return]A powerful, absorbing story. Highly recommended.(less)

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Apr 06, 2013 علی rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

The narration which is both Willie Stark’s life and Jack’s own personal story, is been narrated side by side with a wonderful contrast between the personal and the impersonal, with psychological and also social demensions of both characters, also politic situation in US 1930’s.
رمان زیبایی که به غفلت از خواندن آن بازمانده بودم. جک بوردن، دانشجوی سابق تاریخ، و سرمقاله نویس روزنامه ی محلی، روایت می کند که چگونه "ویلی استارک" از فروشندگی، به فرمانداری ایالت میسوری و سپس سناتوری آن ایالت رسید و اگر ب...more The narration which is both Willie Stark’s life and Jack’s own personal story, is been narrated side by side with a wonderful contrast between the personal and the impersonal, with psychological and also social demensions of both characters, also politic situation in US 1930’s.
رمان زیبایی که به غفلت از خواندن آن بازمانده بودم. جک بوردن، دانشجوی سابق تاریخ، و سرمقاله نویس روزنامه ی محلی، روایت می کند که چگونه "ویلی استارک" از فروشندگی، به فرمانداری ایالت میسوری و سپس سناتوری آن ایالت رسید و اگر به قتل نرسیده بود، شاید رییس جمهور می شد. شخصیت ویلی استارک از روی شخصیت واقعی "هووی لانگ"، فرماندار و سپس سناتور ایالت میسوری آمریکا در دهه ی 1930 گرفته شده که در 1935 ترور شد. رابرت پن وارن که در 1947 بخاطر این رمان برنده ی جایزه ی پولیتزر شده، با ظرافت و مهارتی بی نظیر، روایت را از تبدیل شدن به یک حکایت سیاسی عبور داده و رمانی روانشناسانه و تحلیل گرانه ارائه کرده که شخصیت ها درگیر با عشق، پول، قدرت، فساد، جاه طلبی و... زنده و چند بعدی لمس می شوند. جک بوردن در نقش یک روزنامه نگار، با شرح زندگی خود در کنار وقایع سیاسی، بی طرفانه خواننده را از افتادن به ورطه ی مسایل سیاسی حفظ می کند. ضمن آن که به مسایل سیاسی پیچیده در تار پول و قدرت و فساد نیز می پردازد. به دلیل عدم شناخت "وارن" نه تنها از خواندن این رمان غافل مانده بودم، بلکه دیدن فیلمی که از روی این رمان ساخته شده را نیز، از دست دادم.
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Mar 21, 2013 Frank rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was really hard deciding whether or not to give this 3 or 4 stars, with the fact that I figured to give it five stars. Sadly Robert Penn Warren, being a master of dialogue,good knowledge of southern society and how politics works anywhere(for the most part.) His story has one big flaw. He underplayed most of his characters SADIE especially. Its Starts off great about Willie and his Rise and the scene with Jack Willie and the judge. After all of that however it's like Warren just said " I inst...more It was really hard deciding whether or not to give this 3 or 4 stars, with the fact that I figured to give it five stars. Sadly Robert Penn Warren, being a master of dialogue,good knowledge of southern society and how politics works anywhere(for the most part.) His story has one big flaw. He underplayed most of his characters SADIE especially. Its Starts off great about Willie and his Rise and the scene with Jack Willie and the judge. After all of that however it's like Warren just said " I instead want to make this about Jack Burton." Then maybe he should have changed the title to "The King's Right hand."

I like Jack Burton,he is funny and quick witted constantly verbally abusing himself across the book. But what about the other characters, why do we have to listen to him bitch about Ann Stanton, (who though serves her purpose, but is the blandest character of the book) why couldn't we get more of Wille? Adam Stanton is interesting, but could have done so much more with him.

Knowing Tiny Duffy, was just in the group to look like Willies bitch, he could have had him banging Sadie too,(though I guess the reader might think that was happening anyway.) Sadie and Lucy could have met and had some kind of dialogue. "Sugar boy"is the only character that he gives a purpose to in the end, Sadie gets her shine too but it's wasn't enough to forgive Warren for keeping her out of the story for more then half of the book.

I know it's a pulitzer prize winning novel and I know it's not meant to be that "entertaining" I still don't think thats a reason to downplay what could have possibly been some key memorable characters

For those of you who don't agree with me think about this. What if during "The Great Gatsby." Fitzgerald only talks about Nick Carraway but leaves Daisy, Tom Buchanan and of course Jay Gatsby just to hang around while Nick talks about his life. I know Nick is the narrator, but that didn't stop Fitz from Embellishing the other characters and give them a purpose.
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Mar 07, 2013 Arthur rated it 3 of 5 stars

All the King's Men is the story of the rise and fall of a political titan in the Deep South during the 1930s. Willie Stark became governor of his own state. He blackmails and bullies his enemies into a radical series of liberal reforms designed to tax the rich and he helped the farmers he cared about them. He is enemies with Sam MacMurfee, a defeated former governor who constantly searches for ways to undermine Willie's power and surrounded by a rough mix of political allies and hired thugs to...more All the King's Men is the story of the rise and fall of a political titan in the Deep South during the 1930s. Willie Stark became governor of his own state. He blackmails and bullies his enemies into a radical series of liberal reforms designed to tax the rich and he helped the farmers he cared about them. He is enemies with Sam MacMurfee, a defeated former governor who constantly searches for ways to undermine Willie's power and surrounded by a rough mix of political allies and hired thugs to do stuff for him.

Jack Burden was the state's aristocratic dynasties, he is Willie Stark's right-hand man. Jack uses his considerable talents as a historical researcher to dig up the unpleasant secrets of Willie's enemies, which are then used for purposes of blackmail. Cynical and lacking in ambition, Jack has walked away from many of his past interests he left his American History and never managed to marry his first love, Anne Stanton, the daughter of a former governor of the state. He loved her so much but didn't have the time. Jack is forced to confront his ideas concerning consequence, responsibility, and motivation.

Willie's death and the circumstances in which it occurs force Jack to rethink his desperate belief that no individual can ever be responsible for the consequences of any action within the chaos and tumult of history and time. Jack marries Anne Stanton and begins working on a book about Cass Mastern. After that it became settled and Jack got his wife and lived happily after his friends death.

This was really interesting book, Willie was a very government in his state he was born and raised in the South. He knew what had to be done. He stopped bullies and the person that hated him later on killed his life. Jack wasn't there to protect him at that time. He was depressed but all he can do was just to say sorry he loved him like it was his own brother. But later Jack moved on to a girl he is dying to marry and later he did marry her and lived a good life.

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Feb 17, 2013 Fatima rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Could not put this down, even though I'd already seen the 2006 film adaptation (starring Sean Penn and Jude Law) way before getting my hands on the book on Kindle. The story charts the ascent of a small-town man named Willie Stark from idealistic political pushover ("Cousin Willie") to near-autocratic Governor ("the Boss") of a Southern state, and the mechanical shedding of his idealism and moral scruples, like the moulting of a cocoon, along the way. It also tells the parallel story of Jack Bur...more Could not put this down, even though I'd already seen the 2006 film adaptation (starring Sean Penn and Jude Law) way before getting my hands on the book on Kindle. The story charts the ascent of a small-town man named Willie Stark from idealistic political pushover ("Cousin Willie") to near-autocratic Governor ("the Boss") of a Southern state, and the mechanical shedding of his idealism and moral scruples, like the moulting of a cocoon, along the way. It also tells the parallel story of Jack Burden, the narrator and Willie's right-hand man of sorts, who has lived all his life with a sort of devil-may-care detachment from actions and consequences, and comes to learn the hard way that everything has consequences and there is no such thing as an innocent bystander or indifferent functionary. The essence of the book is summed up best in the contrast between Willie and Dr. Adam Stanton, Jack's childhood friend: Adam is the "man of idea" who believes there is only goodness and badness and the two are mutually exclusive and at odds; and Willie is the "man of action" who believes that goodness is a social construct "made up as you go along" according to convenience, and that goodness can only be made from badness because there's nothing else to make it out of. ("Sure, there's some graft, but there's just enough to make the wheels turn without squeaking.") The writing is beautiful, very Southern, with dreamlike, poetic imagery and vivid portraits of human emotion and experience. The plot is gripping, with a series of very satisfying twists and outcomes in the final quarter or so of the book. The 2006 movie didn't do the book justice, at all - it merely skims the surface of all the complex characters (even if you allow for the constraints of trying to squeeze enough into a two-hour film); plot's a bit different too. All in all, I highly recommend the novel to anyone interested in the moral greys of politics and power, or just those of ordinary people in general. Or if you just want to read a beautifully written work.(less)

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Feb 11, 2013 Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because I have read some of Warren's poetry. No other writer, not even Faulkner, can sustain the type of lyrical narrative that reads like poetry. Warren does it throughout the entire book. And he gives us what all great books offer, he takes us to a place where we can feel the great Universal Truths of what it means to be human.

It's ostensibly the story of Willie Stark, a Huey Long type politician, from Louisiana told by a cynical newspaper reporter, Jack Burden. Late in t...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: southern, historical, political fiction

Shelves: bookclub, classics

This is a long book at over 600 pages, but the characters are so entertaining, especially Willie Stark, it's one of those books you enjoy the ride. Actually, I wished there was more Willie to it. The Jack Burden and Anne Stanton saga could have easily played more second to fiddle to Willie and his political haggling. His southern charm, eternal self-justifying,and farm boy analogies combine for all the best dialogue in the book.

Here's a taste: "You're a lawyer", Hugh Miller said. "No," the Boss...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: junior-year

All The Kings Men written by Robert Penn Warren was a fairly decent book. Although confusing at times it can also be very interesting. It is a book on a corrupted government which leads to blackmailing and the death of others. It starts of with a guy named Willie Starks who comes up from the rubbish and becomes the governor for his state and a important political person. Also he uses tricks up his sleeves such as blackmailing to get his opponents to comply with him and as a result some chose to...more

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Jul 16, 2012 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

All The Kings Men Robert Penn Warren (1946) #36

April 15, 2007

Fluid and beautiful, this book is truly a work of art. The characters intertwine with each other with wit and grace. This was one of those rare finds; that 700 page unheard of jewel. Warren’s writing style is wonderfully different and to me never got old. He goes into lush detail and makes the reader lose himself in the image he’s creating. Being from the South, this imagery makes the experience all the more enjoyable. It’s hard to pu...more

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About Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic, and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry. He won the Pulitzer in 1947 for his novel All the King's Men (1946) and won his subsequent Pulitzer Prizes for poetry in 1957 and then...more

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Quotes from All the King's Men

“The end of man is knowledge, but there is one thing he can't know. He can't know whether knowledge will save him or kill him. He will be killed, all right, but he can't know whether he is killed because of the knowledge which he has got or because of the knowledge which he hasn't got and which if he had it, would save him.” — 1,088 people liked it

“[F]or when you get in love you are made all over again. The person who loves you has picked you out of the great mass of uncreated clay which is humanity to make something out of, and the poor lumpish clay which is you wants to find out what it has been made into. But at the same time, you, in the act of loving somebody, become real, cease to be a part of the continuum of the uncreated clay and get the breath of life in you and rise up. So you create yourself by creating another person, who, however, has also created you, picked up the you-chunk of clay out of the mass. So there are two you's, the one you create by loving and the one the beloved creates by loving you. The farther those two you's are apart the more the world grinds and grudges on its axis. But if you loved and were loved perfectly then there wouldn't be any difference between the two you's or any distance between them. They would coincide perfectly, there would be perfect focus, as when a stereoscope gets the twin images on the card into perfect alignment.” — 44 people liked it

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